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Karen Smith Conway

Karen grew up in central Illinois and graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a major in Economics and a minor in Business. She came to UNH in 1987 after receiving her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research centers on how government policies affect household decisions such as where to live, how to spend their time, or how much to invest in their children. Her research also extends to examining why certain state policies – especially preferential tax treatment of the elderly – have developed as they have and their implications for the states’ fiscal health. Her favorite professional experience to date has been her stint as a visiting faculty at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Among her favorite personal experiences are two cross-country trips with her husband – one in a minivan with their 3 kids and the other on their bicycles.

Fields of Specialization

Health, Labor and Public Economics

Education

Ph.D., Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1987
B.A., Economics, Eastern Illinois University

“Soaking up the Sun: The Complicated Role of Sunshine in the Production of Infant Health,” (with Andrea Kutinova Menclova and Jennifer Trudeau), American Journal of Health Economics, 2(1), Winter 2016, pp. 1-40.